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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25223008">Let Them Go</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafeinthemoon93/pseuds/cafeinthemoon93'>cafeinthemoon93</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Nidaime's Assistant [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Children, Children of Characters, Conflict, Conflict Resolution, Dead Uchiha Madara, Edo Tensei, F/M, Family, Family Drama, Family Fluff, Founding of Konoha, Hokage, Konohagakure | Hidden Leaf Village, Marriage, Married Couple, Married Life, Mentioned Sarutobi Hiruzen - Freeform, Mentioned Senju Hashirama - Freeform, Mentioned Uchiha Madara, Past Relationship(s), Past Tense, Reconciliation, Reconciliation Sex, Senju Clan-centric, Senju Tobirama Needs a Hug, Uchiha Clan-centric</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:48:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>16,172</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25223008</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafeinthemoon93/pseuds/cafeinthemoon93</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You've been married to the Second Hokage for some years now. Your children are growing up, and with their development come new challenges: make time for three kids with different ages and personalities demands all energy and efforts from you both. And as if it wasn't enough, some questions of Tobirama's past are brought back when your eldest daughter, who's now almost 12, gets closer to Satoru, a boy from the Academy - and the Uchiha clan.</p><p> </p><p>STATUS</p><p>Part I - It Takes Courage (COMPLETE)<br/>Part II - That Wasn't a Genjutsu  (COMPLETE)<br/>Part III (this one) ONGOING</p><p>NOTE: You don't need to read the previous parts to understand this one</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Senju Tobirama &amp; You, Senju Tobirama/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Nidaime's Assistant [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1795480</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. I</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>HELLO THERE</p><p>If you're reading this and already know the previous parts of The Nidaime's Assistant series, that means two things: first, I didn't keep my promise and ended up writing another story for this series, shame on me XD I'm sorry that I'm doing this instead of working on the unfinished stuff I have here, but when the idea came out, I couldn't resist lmao; and second, you're an incredibly patient person and I want to thank you for that XD</p><p>To speak the truth, since I've finished the second part, I've been wanting to write something now that their children are grown and they are together for so long, as well as how some mundane things that happened in the present time can speak directly to the historical issues between the Senju and the Uchiha and how it would affect the life reader worked so hard to build with the man she loves.</p><p>NOW SOME IMPORTANT STUFF BEFORE I SHUT UP!</p><p>- Because I wanted to avoid giving spoilers, I didn't put everything in the tags, but I'm going to write notes in the beginning of each chapter with the things you might expect, and that includes some warnings</p><p>- Yes, this third part will be a bit different from the previous ones. And though I chose not to use Archive Warnings because I never write graphic/explicit content, this part will show some dark undertones. I will specify everything in the notes before the chapter starts, so you don't have to worry: if you understand that the content might make you uncomfortable, do not continue to read</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Konoha is going through a peaceful period right now. You don't have much things to worry. Your work is reduced now that your children are growing up, and while they start to walk through their path to independence, you have more time with your husband, who has less things to fix at the moment. However, you are not in peace, though you should be. And knowing that only brings you anxiety.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Some tension right in the first chapter, boys! This one has no warnings, but tons of loneliness and anxiety are expected.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>"My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>(Edgar Allan Poe, The Black Cat)</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The current days have been so peaceful in the village that you barely noticed them passing.</p><p>You’ve been so involved with your regular activities – taking care of your family and yourself, as well as your house – that you didn’t have a moment to be bored or to complain. Times like these were rare, but as a woman of Konoha, a wife and a hard worker, you’ve learn a long time ago that complaining, whatever the reason, never led people anywhere, so you’ve managed to be positive and take the best of these peaceful periods.</p><p>You acted wisely when you taught your eldest daughter, Amaya, some of your daily activities as she grew up. Now that she was about to turn twelve, she was capable of taking care of the same tasks you accomplished when you were her age. Besides, since she resembled you in primary aspects, she never had problems with organizing her time, so you could count on her to help you and still manage to make time for her studies and to be taught by her grandfather: your father and your girl shared a great love for crafting and, following his steps, she was planning to turn this passion into a profession.</p><p>Just like you, Tobirama Senju, your husband, has been spending time with your second son, Shuji, who was his living image. He developed a deep interest in physical training and the study of shinobi techniques at an early age, and his father soon started his first lessons (and he was glad he did that before the little boy discovered how to open his ink bowls and destroy all the stock of blank scrolls on his working table). Now, he was ten, and as a student of the Academy, he accomplished such level of ability that sometimes Tobirama would take him to train alongside his team of students, who were now teenagers. One of them, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was specially fond of Shuji and was helping him with hand seals.</p><p>With the minor amount of tasks and the fact that he hasn’t been traveling outside Konoha for a while now, the Hokage had more time not only for his children, his team and his personal studies, but for you two. You, on the other hand, had only your youngest son, Hashirama, depending on you for most of the time; however, the boy was almost five years old, and for he just entered the Academy, even him started to spend more time away from you, so that your burden was drastically reduced. At first, you were worried about his adaptation, but he seemed so excited with the idea of being with other children of his age that his cheerful expectation calmed you down. And now you had some hours to take care of yourself and your husband.</p><p>Yes, that was good. Seeing everyone in your house occupied with their own things released you from part of the mental burden you’ve carried when your kids were little and gave you permission to direct your energies to different matters. And that was much more than you could wish.</p><p>Still, your life was not entirely free from problems. That would be impossible for anyone, but especially for you: despite not being a member of an important clan or noble family, you were still the Hokage’s wife and his children’s mother, which was enough responsibility for one to carry. But because all the regular aspects of your domestic life seemed to be okay, this time your worries came from another place.</p><p>These preoccupations of yours were regarding some of the shinobi techniques studied by Tobirama. Of course, they have been a vital aspect of his life since his early years, and that didn’t change with time. In fact, as much as he appreciated using his intellect and energy to create new institutions that were changing the village’s structure, he loved creating and perfecting new jutsus, though he didn’t always show them to you. Back in your time as his assistant, during your first years together, you cultivated a respectful interest in his techniques and even asked him to explain some of them to you, which he did regarding the completed ones even knowing you didn’t have your chakra pathway ready to perform any of them. Tobirama loved elaborating things, and finding ways to practice his ideas; he was a hard worker as much as a hard researcher, and that was one of the things you loved most about him.</p><p>However, you never knew about all of those matters, and since he was very private about the jutsus yet to be completed and you maintained the policy of personal space, you didn’t use to question him about the details of such studies. But it didn’t go unnoticed by you that some of them were strange, to say the least. Yes, you always tried not to interfere, but you couldn’t help it: you didn’t like them. Your husband surely had his reasons to create certain techniques the way he did, but it didn’t change the fact that they weren’t suitable for everyone; they were not the kind of thing he would teach Shuji.</p><p>And, lately, with the amount of free time he got, he has been spending more and more of his energies on these activities.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>***</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>That weekend afternoon, Amaya was with her grandfather, and you were at home with your younger boys waiting for her to come back.</p><p>You were in the kitchen’s table peeling apples for a pie and had Hashirama on a chair at your left, watching you work with the knife and fill the bowl with the fruits. Yes, even now that he started to build his social circle outside of his familiar environment, he was still attached enough to his mom to spend minutes watching as she did her tasks. Under his chair was Mizuki, your cat. The animal was still attached to Hashi and followed him around the house; it was getting old, though, and didn’t use to play as much as before.</p><p>Shuji was sitting at your right with a scroll opened before him. He had his elbow on the table, and his chin leaning on his hand; his red eyes would go from line to line of the scroll’s writing without blinking. He was so concentrated that if you called him, he would probably startled. You almost smiled at the vision: that was exactly how Tobirama used to stay while reading on his table. Your boy was becoming more like his father as he grew.</p><p>Usually it would make you proud, but that time, such resemblance made you worried. Will the boy become interested in the same strange things about which his father was passionate? You prayed he wouldn’t. Still…</p><p>A sudden pain made you startle. You looked down at your hands and saw a red dot on your finger that soon turned into a blurry line: you got distracted and cut yourself with the knife. You drop it beside the bowl and moved your hand away before the blood fell on the apples.</p><p>- Mom, you got hurt! - it was Hashirama’s voice, raised with preoccupation.</p><p>You stood up fast, holding your hand. It wasn’t really bad; still, you felt fingers trembling.</p><p>- It’s okay – you replied to the wide-eyed boy – I’m going to clean this.</p><p>Before you left the kitchen, you sensed Shuji’s eyes on you. When you looked at him, you found the boy staring at you with a serious expression.</p><p>You tried to smile.</p><p>- What’s wrong, Shuji?</p><p>His manners didn’t alter.</p><p>- I think you got distracted because you were worried about something, mom. Is it about us, or about father?</p><p>You stood still for a second, then sighed. Straight to the point, just like him, you thought. Sometimes, it annoyed you, but other times you were glad for this.</p><p>Hashi interrupted, angry.</p><p>- Shuji, don’t speak like this to mom!</p><p>Before they started to argue, you interrupted:</p><p>- Your brother is right, Hashi – you said looking from the younger child to the older – I’m worried. And it’s about your father. I should have talked to him before, but I couldn’t. Anyway, you two don’t need to be worried about me. I’ll be right back.</p><p>You took the knife, cleaned it on the sink and went to take care of your cut.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>***</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>You were leaving the bathroom with your injury cleaned up and wrapped with a bandage when Tobirama came home. He found you on the corridor, and even before you spoke the first word, he spotted the hurt finger.</p><p>- What is this, y/n? – he asked while walking toward you.</p><p>You tried not to look so worried. It was just a small cut, after all.</p><p>- It’s nothing. I was peeling apples in the kitchen and probably got distracted, so this happened – you shrugged – But it’s small. It will heal soon.</p><p>He nodded and said nothing, but you knew that look in his eyes. He’s got something in mind, but he thought it was too soon to tell it to you. You also knew that in such cases, it was impossible to make him talk, so you let him go. Tobirama went to your room as you walked back to the kitchen to finish the work with the apples.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>***</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>You had some difficulty to peel the last fruits because of the bandage, so the work took a few more minutes than usual. By this time, Hashirama went to take a nap, but Shuji was still there; now he was reaching the edge of his scroll.</p><p>While you were there, your husband didn’t show up, despite knowing Shuji was there and might have needed his orientation here and there. Well, as the private man he was, he always took some time alone after coming back home, but this time there was something different, and you didn’t understand what it was. You were eager to talk to him, but all you could do for now was to wait.</p><p>As well as you were waiting for Amaya to come back. She went to see his grandfather and took her daily lessons; you sent a message to your mother through her, asking her to lend you a cake pan, which the girl was going to return in the next day. But she should have come back by that time; yes, she got late other times before, but it only happened when she was learning a complex lesson or had to stop at a shop and buy something on her way back. That was not the case now. Something must have happened…</p><p>You were telling yourself these exact words when the front door was opened and you heard Amaya’s steps on the corridor. She arrived at the kitchen’s entry and left the pan on the table.</p><p>- I’m sorry for the delay, mom. Here’s your pan. Grandma wasn’t sure if this is really the one you’ve asked for, but she sent it anyway.</p><p>You looked at the object and confirmed it was the right one. However, when you laid your eyes on the girl, you noticed something different in her. It took you a second to understand it: her cheeks seemed a bit rosy, though she wasn’t gasping (the walk wasn’t that long to make someone tired), and her manners were… well, how would you describe it? Cheerful? Charming? Yes, something close to it, something that made her look more like a young lady than a child.</p><p>Your daughter was growing up, you told yourself. Of course such change was going to happen. But you didn’t have time to think about it: when you asked her about the delay, she stuttered and the redness on her face seemed to increase as her eyes turned to you; it was something so blatant that even Shuji raised his head from the scroll to watch the scene.</p><p>- Well, I… met a friend of mine on my way back. We’ve stopped to talk, so I’ve ended up late. I’m sorry for this.</p><p>You raised your eyebrow.</p><p>- A friend? Do I know them?</p><p>Her discomfort couldn’t be concealed.</p><p>- No… I don’t think so.</p><p>You tried to think of something to say, but you couldn’t. So you just nodded and decided you were going to take care of this later. For now, the most important was to focus on the practical matters, so you told her to see if Hashirama was still sleeping and then come back to help you with the pie. Amaya said yes and left.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>***</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Later that night, when the children were sleeping, you were alone in your room, lying on your back on the futon, thinking. You felt your body tired, but you suspected you weren’t going to sleep so soon.</p><p>The truth is that remembering that day’s events made you feel lonely. Tobirama was spending more and more of his time on his personal studies, and if it wasn’t for Shuji’s training he would be even more distant; as if it wasn’t enough, he was skipping his meals again, something you hated. That evening, he asked you to leave his bowl on his table, for he was going to eat as soon as he was finished with the scrolls; you did it, but later when you came back to take it, it was cold and full, and the chopsticks were at its side, exactly where you put them. You sighed and took it back to the kitchen. All against your will (since you were tired and annoyed), you went back and passed your hands around his shoulders while he was on his chair; you kissed him on the top of his head and told him you were going to sleep; he kissed your right hand in response, saying that he was going to join you soon. However, the hours passed and you didn’t even hear his steps on the corridor.</p><p>And that was not everything: you sensed your kids were getting distant too. Amaya was spending much time away from home, and seemed to get along with her grandparents more than with her own parents; Shuji was developing all his father’s habits, including that one of spending hours with the scrolls and forget about the life out of them; even Hashi was different: with all the changes in his life as a new student of the Academy, he no longer depended on you for basic things as before. Yes, that was perfectly natural, and you should expect that: as your children grew up, your relationship with them and their needs would change. But it was being harder than you expected.</p><p>You turned on the mattress, and the vision of the empty space on your side brought tears to your eyes.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. II</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Something in the morning air is telling you that stormy events are coming. When Tobirama suddenly decides that your eldest daughter is not going to leave the house alone and creates a shadow clone to go with her, you know something serious is going on. And when the answer for the mystery comes from your second son's mouth, you see things are more serious than you imagined.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yep, you don't pronounce the name Uchiha in Tobirama's house without expecting something BIG to happen in the next moment lol</p><p>THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS:</p><p>- Tension, conflict and fight with kunai</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>The next day started silent for all of you, but it didn’t mean it was going to be the calmest one. You sensed it right after you left your bed, and when you crossed Mizuki’s way in the corridor and it ran through the window; even the cat was acting strange.</p><p>And now that you, your husband and the kids were sitting at the table together, the sensation was overwhelming: you felt it from the way each one of you moved your chopsticks to the subtle pain pulsing through your finger’s cut. Even Hashi was quiet; but if he was sensing the same as you, you couldn’t tell.</p><p>You were the first to speak.</p><p>- Amaya, you are going to give back the pan to your grandmother – you pointed the object on the sink – And take a piece of the pie to your grandfather too. Since your grandmother broke her arm and has been kept away from the kitchen, he asks me to make this pie for him.</p><p>Amaya, who just finished her breakfast, nodded and stood up. The boys emptied their bowls too, and were about to stand up and take the dishes to the sink when Tobirama’s voice was heard. And when he spoke, you finally understood why you were sensing so much tension.</p><p>- Amaya, you are not going to your grandparents’ house alone today.</p><p>The girl turned her neck with such nervousness that you sensed it in yourself. That tone in her father’s voice was not common unless he believed something was wrong and needed to be fixed.</p><p>- No? – her voice was a whisper – But who are coming with me, father?</p><p>His answer was categorical.</p><p>- One of my shadow clones.</p><p>The confusion was visible on her face. But there was no confusion in you; if he was involving a shadow clone in this, it must have meant one thing: he was worried – bothered – about something, but he wasn’t going to speak it out, not in front of the children. Your daughter, however, had no clue of this, so you thought it was better to intervene.</p><p>- Amaya walks this same way every day and never had any problem during her walks – you said to your husband – What happened this time that you find such measure necessary?</p><p>
  <span>Tobirama turned his eyes to you. The moment you looked into them, you knew his reply wasn’t going to reveal the entirety of his thoughts, not </span>
  <span>with the kids looking.</span>
</p><p>- The way is as safe as before, y/n. But I want to make sure she will not get late.</p><p>Amaya seemed embarrassed.</p><p>- But, father…</p><p>- And when your time to go back comes, I will send another clone to walk you home – he interrupted and stood up; he made the hand seal, and soon there was a clone at his right – Tell your grandparents that you will wait for him in their house.</p><p>Yes. Definitely there was something going on, and Tobirama was acting like that because talking was too hard for him. It has always been like this, so you were going to have to pull everything out of him and spare your daughter, who was as tense as her brothers. She didn’t say a word, nor she dared to question his father’s decision, but she was afraid, and if you wanted to solve this, the only option was to act straight to the point.</p><p>And quickly.</p><p>- You two. Wait.</p><p>The clone and Amaya stopped at the same time. You looked directly at your husband.</p><p><span>- If there’s the need </span><span>of</span> <span>a clone’s c</span><span>ompany for my daughter now, I need to know what’s going on during her walks before she leaves the house. Aren’t you going to tell me what you saw or heard that justifies the use of a shadow clone?</span></p><p>Before Tobirama had the time to open his mouth, Shuji, who was paying attention to the entire conversation, answered your question.</p><p>- Mother, I think our father is just worried about Satoru.</p><p>Satoru? Ah, you thought. A boy, of course. When you looked at Amaya, her cheeks were as red as the apples you peeled for the pie; her father’s face, on the other hand, became as white as his hair when he heard that name. The clone remained impassible.</p><p>- Father, I told you that you don’t need to worry about him – Shuji was saying – He is a good boy.</p><p>You raised your eyebrows and turned to your son.</p><p>- Satoru? Who is he?</p><p>- He is from the Academy, mother. I met him right in my first days there. I think he’s the friend Amaya was talking about yesterday.</p><p>Suddenly, everything was clear to you. Your daughter was turning twelve soon, and she was your only girl. She was the eldest of your kids, so she was the first of them to spend more time away from you. And now she was getting closer to a boy. Of course her father wasn’t sure of how to react to this; still, he was trying his best. But you couldn’t forget that he was Tobirama Senju, and dealing with these things was not counted among his talents. He was going to need your help in this.</p><p>
  <span>Amaya was still nervous, but she remained quiet. It was the best she could do. Tobirama, however, seemed </span>
  <span>irritated</span>
  <span> by your calm reaction to </span>
  <span>what you just heard</span>
  <span>. You didn’t understand what he was expecting: did he want you to scream at the girl because she liked a boy? To lock her inside the house so she would never talk to him again? Well, he must have known that you wouldn’t make a fuzz about this.</span>
</p><p>However, Shuji didn’t finish yet. The mystery of the boy was revealed, but the whole question was not solved: in fact, it has just begun.</p><p>- Satoru is one of the best students at the Academy, mother. He’s older than me, but I like him. He's smart, and his taijutsu is better than anyone’s, except mine – Shuji explained; and, as if he was forgetting an important detail – Ah, and he’s an Uchiha.</p><p>Uchiha. Your son watched his tone when he said the name, for he knew it could provoke different reactions in each member of his family.</p><p>Once he closed his mouth, Amaya stared furiously, desperately at him, as if he just accused her of a crime. Shuji, on his turn, seemed a bit guilty for telling everything, but explaining that the boy was from that clan was even harder to him, for the confusion it created in his head: he knew that one of the men in his father’s team, the young Kagami, was an Uchiha; so what was the problem with Satoru? He didn’t understand the difference, but he remained quiet anyway. And Hashirama was nervous too, for he knew there was a problem going on, despite not understanding everything that was involved; he was looking at you, waiting to see what you were going to do.</p><p>But seeing your children’s state was not the worst. What was worst was to stare at your husband, who seemed ready to tell you a lot of things you’ve been missing, that you haven’t been spending enough time with the girl, who needed your guidance more than ever before, that you were unnecessarily worried about Hashirama, who was no longer a baby and that you were being too indulgent, too soft and… But, well, once your son mentioned the fact that the boy was an Uchiha, you knew that the main problem was not the way the children were being raised. The problem was in another place. And the children didn’t need to see you discuss it, for they had nothing to do with it.</p><p>Your first words were directed to Amaya.</p><p>- You are going to do as your father says, with no discussion. And you are going to take Hashi with you.</p><p>
  <span>The girl was about to ask why, but she decided to keep quiet; by the look in her eyes, she noticed you got something in mind. She went to the sink and took </span>
  <span>the things</span>
  <span> she had to give to her grandparents. Hashirama, </span>
  <span>who didn’t have her sister’s discernment,</span>
  <span> tried to protest.</span>
</p><p>- But, mom, why…</p><p>- Hashirama! You are going with your sister. Now, listen! – your tone was firm, and because you called him by his full name he knew you were serious – You are going to obey her and your grandparents while you stay at their house. And when Amaya says it’s time to come back home, you are coming with her. Do you understand?</p><p>Hashirama didn’t understand everything, of course, but he obeyed you without a word. Amaya called him, and the boy left the kitchen with her and their father’s clone.</p><p>
  <span>Tobirama remained in silence after they left. </span>
  <span>He didn’t take long to</span>
  <span> underst</span>
  <span>an</span>
  <span>d what you were doing, so he did his part as well: with another hand seal, he created two more clones. </span>
  <span>Using his hiraishin, h</span>
  <span>e sent one of them to the office to start his work for him, and then told Shuji that he was going to train with the remaining one.</span>
</p><p>The boy didn’t hide his dissatisfaction with the arrangement. Among all your children, he was the one who felt more comfortable to speak his mind to his father, so that even feeling like he was responsible for the present situation (which wasn’t exactly true) he still managed to express his thoughts on Tobirama’s decision.</p><p>- Father, my results will not be the same if I only train with a clone.</p><p>- I know – his father’s manners didn’t alter.</p><p>- And if I defeat the clone, he will disappear and…</p><p>Tobirama cut him off.</p><p>
  <span>- If this happens, seek for Hiruzen or </span>
  <span>someone else</span>
  <span>, and if they don’t have time for you, then train by yourself – he stared at the boy, then pointed to the kitchen’s exit – Now, go.</span>
</p><p>And that was one of the many moments when you saw how Shuji was different from his brothers, and so was his connection with his father. If he spoke like that to Amaya, she would probably look at you, hoping you could make amends and calm her father’s temper. Hashirama would do the same, but louder; he would certainly cry or hide behind you. However, Shuji’s only reaction was to nod and leave by the clone’s side without a word.</p><p>When everyone finally left and you found yourself alone with Tobirama, you didn’t speak. You just turned to the table, took the bowls and chopsticks from it and then put them on the sink. You turned on the water and started to wash them in silence. Your husband didn’t move; he just stood there, with his arms crossed, waiting. He has been with you long enough to understand that you needed to organize your surroundings to get in touch with your thoughts, and working with your hands helped you to calm down and think of what to say. You never liked conflicts, but whenever they came, you needed to prepare yourself.</p><p>The truth is that you rarely engaged in serious fights. Divergences were more common during your first years together, because you were still knowing each other, and so finding out how to live peacefully in each other’s company, which meant accepting that some opinions and traits of personality would never change. Now, you both knew it well, so it was no longer a reason for you to fight. Now, your reasons were different.</p><p>
  <span>In the present case, at first sight the problem seemed to come from the way you two saw your daughter’s friendship – or the beginning of a date – with that boy. It was a valid preoccupation, of course: Amaya was too young and has been spending too much time all by herself, and she was certainly too young to </span>
  <span>care</span>
  <span> about boys, you were sure of that. However, once the name Uchiha was brought to the table, you saw that Tobirama had something else in mind. And that infuriated you.</span>
</p><p>The long history of rivalry between the Senju and the Uchiha was known by everyone in the village, and you were no exception. It was so entrenched that once you started dating, you knew that you would have to talk about this to Tobirama. And you did. He explained his side of the story and how things were settled now; you, in response, said that you had nothing to do with it and wanted to maintain your neutrality. You wanted to live in peace with the man you loved, nothing more than that. So he promised he wouldn’t let it interfere in your happiness and he would never drag your children into this. But, as you knew, it was easier to speak.</p><p>You were washing the last bowl when you finally spoke.</p><p>- You knew about the boy. Didn’t you?</p><p>His reply was simple.</p><p>- Yes.</p><p>You put the bowl with the others to dry. Your hand lingered upon it for a moment.</p><p>- And you also knew he was an Uchiha.</p><p>The same reply.</p><p>- So you asked Shuji to keep an eye on him.</p><p>Tobirama sighed. You sighed too, but instead of asking something else, you made the kunai you always carried in your sleeve drop to your hand and then threw it without measuring the target. Your husband didn’t startle or anything; he just moved his head aside, so the blade was buried in the wall behind him. Of course you knew you wouldn’t hit him; you didn’t want to, but you were kind of glad that his reflexes were exceptional, so that you didn’t need to worry during a fight. Because of this, you threw the second kunai, hidden in the other sleeve. This one’s destiny was different: Tobirama stopped it by holding its blade between his fingers, just a few centimeters from his face. He let it fall to the floor and walked toward you.</p><p>Somehow, that composed reaction of his to your burst made you even more angry: didn’t he really understand the seriousness of what was going on? Of what he told your son to do? Couldn’t he see how his old disaffection was poisoning his actions towards his own family? That was still surprising to you, how Tobirama could be so perceptive to some things and at the same time so blind to others.</p><p>He was one step away from you now, and seeing his calm expression so close was too much for you. He was a head taller than you, but that didn’t intimidate you: you just forgot about everything else and engaged in a physical fight, in the middle of the kitchen, with the table and all the dishes under your reach.</p><p>- I can’t believe you thought there was no problem with this, Tobirama! – you tried punch him countless times, but he easily stopped your hand in each of them – Instead of talking to Amaya, of talking to me, you used your son as a spy?! Didn’t you think for a single moment how she would feel about this? Of how I would feel about this? No, you didn’t! Of course you didn’t!</p><p>It wasn’t for nothing you were so angry. You still remembered when he told you about his clan and the Uchiha, about the friendship between his brother, Hashirama, and the man called Madara Uchiha. That wasn’t a part of the story he was proud of: his father sent him to find out who was Hashirama’s mysterious friend, and because he did it, many problems followed for many people. And now, after all this time, after all that happened, he was feeding that suspicion, waking up that strife again and involving your children in this. That was unbelievable. Unacceptable.</p><p>
  <span>And the worst part of it was that he just kept deflecting your punches and saying nothing, making you look like you were the crazy one there, just waiting until you let out all your anger and then to be able to resonate with you, to try and convince you that his reasons were justified. People like him were used to be right; no wonder it was so hard for him to just talk and say he was wrong. By this attitude, he somehow managed to turn the victory to his side. It was not fair, and this unbalance not only increased your wrath but also brought some bitterness to your mouth, blended with the frustration of seeing each of your strikes repelled by him; yet you continued to </span>
  <span>strike</span>
  <span> him. There was something really sad about fighting someone you couldn’t defeat, whether in a fight or in an argument.</span>
</p><p>You kept saying the same things over and over again, and didn’t get a verbal answer. It wasn’t a surprise, though: Tobirama was never much of a talker during arguments, and he used to listen more than to speak; on the other hand, when he opened his mouth, it was for mere affirmation of his own thoughts and decisions. Yes, he was very difficult sometimes, and it didn’t get better as time passed.</p><p>However, that was taking too long even for you. That time his silence was starting to bother you. And as you tried to understand what was different now, you felt when he held your wrists and all your surroundings suddenly changed.</p><p>In a moment, you were in the kitchen. In the next, the kitchen disappeared.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. III</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>When Tobirama said he kept that scroll as a memory, you weren't expecting to hear a story like the one he is telling you now. It is a tragic one, and you find yourself both scared and interested to hear its end, because only then you will finally understand what it has to do with Satoru, the Uchiha boy.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>You better sit down, because the story will be long this time! lol</p><p>I wanted to write the conflict in this story in a way that both sides are equally right and wrong. Tobirama and reader's personality flaws, education and life experiences have the best of them here, and their biggest challenge is to recognize it and overcome it.</p><p>Because I'm terrible at historical dates (and I didn't research at the databooks, shame on me XD), I'm not sure about the accuracy of my narration. But I'm not writing this as an academy work and when it comes to fanfiction, we are free to make mistakes and use canon divergences as well. What is told in this chapter happened shortly after the village's foundation times. Some things about those times are familiar to reader, but since she was not born during some of them (and she was too young to remember the others), she needs to hear Tobirama's whole story to understand everything that's implied here.</p><p>Speaking of this, I need to make something clear: although the age difference between them is prominent (it was pointed out by different characters as well as by themselves in the previous parts of the series), she wasn't a minor when she met Tobirama and got married. I don't write this type of thing.</p><p>Also, I included a hc of mine that Hashirama is excellent to focus on the core message of what he hears, but he's terrible at paying attention to sentences's structures as well XD</p><p>THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS:</p><p>- Assumption of arranged marriage<br/>- Rumors and premature death<br/></p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p><span>When you looked around, you saw you were now in the bathroom. </span><span>Flying Thunder God Technique</span><span>, of course. Tobirama probably used one of </span><span>his</span><span> clones to mark the room with a seal when they were leaving. But why did he take you there? Before you could speak, you </span><span>got</span> <span>your</span><span> answer: you looked down at your wrists, still being held by him, and saw a red stain on the bandage’s surface; the finger you </span><span>hurt</span><span> was bleeding, and the bandage needed to be replaced. Did it happen when you started to fight? </span><span>Probably. </span><span>But in this case, how did Tobirama use the seal? The clones left before t</span><span>hat.</span></p><p>
  <span>You heard </span>
  <span>his voice as he </span>
  <span>got</span>
  <span> the first aid </span>
  <span>kit</span>
  <span> you kept in the bathroom.</span>
</p><p>- You were still washing the dishes when it started to bleed again – he held your hand and started to unwrap your finger – You were not looking when I left and put the seal here.</p><p>
  <span>So it wasn’t a clone: it was him that put the seal. </span>
  <span>But it </span>
  <span>would be</span>
  <span> easier to just warn you, </span>
  <span>so you’d went and clean the cut, </span>
  <span>right?, you thought.</span>
</p><p>- I knew that, once you washed the last bowl, you were going to do that – Tobirama said as if he just read your mind – Speaking was useless.</p><p>
  <span>You were about to reply when you looked at the injury </span>
  <span>and</span>
  <span> startled at the vision of it: it was larger than you remembered. You must have been so nervous, so distracted </span>
  <span>when you got hurt </span>
  <span>that you thought it was nothing but a scratch and just wrapped </span>
  <span>it in </span>
  <span>a thin bandage. Now, </span>
  <span>it needed additional care, </span>
  <span>a</span>
  <span>nd you were not in a position to refuse help; you had to stop and watch as Tobirama did the service. </span>
  <span>That was not the first time he took care of an injury of yours, but you sensed your hand shaking </span>
  <span>with all the emotions you had to contain until everything was done, while his hands moved with the impassible manners you’ve saw many times before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And it</span>
  <span> pissed you in a way you couldn’t explain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When it was finished, he still looked at the bandage for a moment, to see if everything was </span>
  <span>in place.</span>
  <span> You </span>
  <span>pulled</span>
  <span> your hand out of his reach.</span>
</p><p>- Stop it.</p><p>He just stared at you.</p><p>- Stop what?</p><p><span>- Stop what you’re doing right now – you hid your hand behind your back – Refusing to talk, </span><span>a</span><span>cting like nothing happened, like I </span><span>was</span><span> wrong, like it isn’t important to speak about that </span><span>when</span> <span>y</span><span>ou know we need to! You think it’s for nothing that I’m so mad? You should know better! You should </span><span>know</span><span> that I’m not mad just because of what you did and because you didn’t talk to me, but because you involved</span> <span>our children in this! Have you forgotten all the things we had to endure until Amaya and Shuji finally got along? </span><span>Can’t you see</span><span> that we almost lost it today? </span><span>If you </span><span>ca</span><span>n’t</span><span>, then think of it now and</span> <span>s</span><span>top</span> <span>b</span><span>eing there, so controlled, so composed after everything! It’s so… Ah!</span><span> – </span><span>you almost screamed – It’s so irritating!</span></p><p>
  <span>Y</span>
  <span>ou didn’t know why, but saying that didn’t make you feel better. You became even more angry, this time more with yourself than with him; it was like you just crossed a limit you shouldn’t cross. All the years you’ve been with each other, you simply loved his self control, his composed attitude, </span>
  <span>for they always showed you the way when you felt lost</span>
  <span>; </span>
  <span>they</span>
  <span> saved you many times when you felt so </span>
  <span>overwhelmed by</span>
  <span> the circumstances you were about to </span>
  <span>give up</span>
  <span>. And now </span>
  <span>they</span>
  <span> made you feel mad </span>
  <span>to the point that you called them irritating</span>
  <span>. Things were so wrong between you two that you didn’t even know where to start.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, </span>
  <span>Tobirama passed </span>
  <span>by </span>
  <span>you and stopped at the bathroom’s door. You turned, thinking that he was just going to leave, but he stared at you and said:</span>
</p><p>- Y/n, there’s something I need to show you.</p><p>You didn’t say a word. You just left the bathroom and followed him as he led you to his office.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>***</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Y</span>
  <span>ou entered the room, closed the door behind you and looked around. </span>
  <span>And then y</span>
  <span>ou held your breath: there </span>
  <span>were</span>
  <span> many more scrolls and books than you remember</span>
  <span>ed</span>
  <span> from </span>
  <span>the</span>
  <span> last time you’ve been there. </span>
  <span>Which was expected, of course</span>
  <span>: if he has been spending more time in that place, </span>
  <span>the volume of paper would </span>
  <span>only </span>
  <span>grow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tobirama went to </span>
  <span>one of the shelves</span>
  <span> and took one of the scrolls </span>
  <span>from</span>
  <span> it. He brought it </span>
  <span>to the middle of the room, put it on the floor before him and opened it. You stood on your place, but that scene was a bit scary even for you. </span>
  <span>What was he going to do? To use some newly created jutsu? To explain it?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Your husband was leaning on one knee, looking at the </span>
  <span>writing </span>
  <span>on the paper. He touched </span>
  <span>the symbols</span>
  <span> with his fingers and kept them there, but nothing happened. Whatever </span>
  <span>the </span>
  <span>jutsu</span>
  <span> was in that scroll, he didn’t active it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>- </span>
  <span>What is it? – you asked, with arms crossed – Are you going to show me a new technique?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>- This is no </span>
  <span>new </span>
  <span>technique – his reply was categorical – </span>
  <span>But </span>
  <span>these notes are</span>
  <span> regarding </span>
  <span>one</span>
  <span> of my old jutsu</span>
  <span>, </span>
  <span>about which </span>
  <span>I already told you. </span>
  <span>These are my first notes about the Impure World Rei</span>
  <span>n</span>
  <span>carnation Technique... </span>
  <span>Edo Tensei.</span>
</p><p>Your eyes widened. Of course you knew about that jutsu; you heard about it when you were younger, and later, when your husband taught you the concept of forbidden techniques during a lesson, he mentioned this specific technique and explained he was its creator, as well as the fact that he himself declared it a kinjutsu. You didn’t think much about that, first because you didn’t like it, and second because you’d never master something like that, no matter how much you trained. You never asked about it; you just thought Tobirama got rid of everything related to it.</p><p>
  <span>But unfortunately, h</span>
  <span>e wasn’t the type of man who just leaves things in the past.</span>
</p><p>- I suppose you have a reason to keep this here – your voice was hoarse – And you brought me here to tell me.</p><p>He was still looking at the writing. He crossed his legs and told you to come closer. You sat before him, in a way that the scroll stood between you on the floor.</p><p><span>- Yes. The truth is that all the forbidden shinobi techniques, including the ones I created, are locked somewhere near the Hokage’s Tower. There’s a reason why they </span><span>are</span> <span>keeping locked instead of being</span><span> destroyed, but </span><span>we will </span><span>not </span><span>discuss this today. As I said, t</span><span>his scroll doesn’t contain </span><span>the</span><span> technique, </span><span>but it is just a note about it. I don’t keep it here to use it as </span><span>a </span><span>base for another jutsu. I keep it as a memory.</span></p><p>Your narrowed your eyes.</p><p>- A memory?</p><p>He nodded.</p><p>- I already told you that I created this jutsu for military purposes, y/n. But you understand it could be used with different intentions.</p><p>So Tobirama took you there to recap a lesson? Yes, you knew he used to tell the whole story to explain his reasons for everything. But you weren’t in the mood for this now.</p><p>
  <span>- And what does these notes have to do with what happened today? To me, the whole question </span>
  <span>is that you don’t appreciate the fact that your daughter is growing up, and that the boy who’s getting closer to her is an Uchiha. And I can’t see any good reason for you to use Shuji to spy on him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>- </span>
  <span>Shuji was not spying on the boy, y/n – by his tone, he was getting impatient; you let him speak, then – I didn’t even know the boy</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> were known to each other until one day when Shuji came to me and started to talk about this colleague of him. Later, I asked Kagami about this boy and he confirmed that Satoru Uchiha is everything my son told me: a skilled, smart and respectable kid. Then Shuji found out about the friendship between Satoru and Amaya. </span>
  <span>Now </span>
  <span>listen:</span>
  <span> b</span>
  <span>eing friends with </span>
  <span>Shuji,</span>
  <span> who </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>s preparing to become a shinobi just like him is one thing; </span>
  <span>but </span>
  <span>being connected to </span>
  <span>Amaya</span>
  <span> is different. </span>
  <span>You cannot tell me not to worry, y/n. I </span>
  <span>might have made a mistake in my way to show it, but I</span>
  <span> care about my children as much as you do.</span>
</p><p>You swallowed before replying. He’s got a point here. Still, it didn’t make his attitude less questionable.</p><p>
  <span>- I know. But you can’t deny that knowing that the boy is an Uchiha </span>
  <span>does</span>
  <span> make a difference to you. </span>
  <span>And </span>
  <span>I’m afraid that it’s blinding your judgment despite everything you just </span>
  <span>said</span>
  <span> about </span>
  <span>him</span>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>N</span>
  <span>ow, his tone diminished.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>- It wouldn’t make any difference if I didn’t know who </span>
  <span>raised him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, he knew Satoru’s </span>
  <span>parents</span>
  <span>? Well, you were glad you were already sitting down, because the story was going to be long.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>- </span>
  <span>The </span>
  <span>man who was responsible for him was</span>
  <span> Myiako Uchiha. </span>
  <span>He was Emi’s brother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y</span>
  <span>our face started to burn when you heard that </span>
  <span>woman’s </span>
  <span>name.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>You knew the part of the story that Tobirama was willing to tell you: Emi was an Uchiha girl for who he fell in love when they were young. As far as you knew, she felt the same for him, but the rivalry between their clans was in the way. Things </span>
  <span>should get</span>
  <span> a bit easier when </span>
  <span>Konoha</span>
  <span> was created, </span>
  <span>for</span>
  <span> Hashirama, who knew about his brother’s feelings, believed that their families should discuss a marriage, but the other side insisted that it was too soon for such things and that both clans had many other things to think about, since they were going to work hard </span>
  <span>to maintain </span>
  <span>the village. </span>
  <span>Apparently, things stood like this and no one talked about matrimonial alliances again, but you never knew what happened to Emi. </span>
  <span>And, honestly, you never wanted to know: </span>
  <span>why would you want to hear about the woman about who your husband thought exactly the way he did about you now?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>B</span>
  <span>ut now you were going to find out more about </span>
  <span>her,</span>
  <span> and possibly why she disappear</span>
  <span>ed</span>
  <span> from the village.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>- </span>
  <span>This man, </span>
  <span>Myiako,</span>
  <span> caused problems to more people than I have time to tell you, y/n – </span>
  <span>he started – </span>
  <span>H</span>
  <span>is </span>
  <span>sister and I </span>
  <span>are</span>
  <span> included in this account. </span>
  <span>The case is that </span>
  <span>he</span>
  <span> had personal reasons to hate me: he used to admire Izuna </span>
  <span>Uchiha</span>
  <span>, seeing him as </span>
  <span>a</span>
  <span> friend and an example, and as you already know, I killed </span>
  <span>Izuna</span>
  <span> in battle. </span>
  <span>Myiako never forgave me for this, even after the peace treaty between our clans </span>
  <span>was </span>
  <span>signed</span>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That part was new </span>
  <span>to</span>
  <span> you. Somehow, you caught yourself interested after that.</span>
</p><p>Tobirama continued:</p><p><span>- He knew about her feelings since the start, so it was just a question of time until he found out that </span><span>our</span><span> affection </span><span>was</span><span> mutual. </span><span>He soon</span><span> started to look for a way to keep us separated. One day, Emi told me about his brother’s hostility. She was being threatened in her </span><span>own </span><span>house and was afraid that things were going to get worse. She believed that the best we could do to avoid more problems was to forget about each other, and never meet again. I refused to accept such thing, but I had to recognize that my options were few, </span><span>s</span><span>o </span><span>I decided</span><span> to speak to Hashirama, who was familiar with Emi and the connection between us. </span><span>Once he heard about </span><span>her situation, he decided to act as soon as possible. With my help,</span> <span>he</span><span> organized a meeting with representatives of both clans to propose the Uchiha to create </span><span>connection</span><span>s</span><span> with the Senju through matrimonial alliances.</span></p><p>
  <span>- </span>
  <span>But it did not work – you added.</span>
</p><p>He shook his head.</p><p>
  <span>- My elder brother had good intentions and did his best to make everyone see that this was going to bring benefits for both sides. But he was, above all, an idealist, and refused to see that our chances were few </span>
  <span>since the start</span>
  <span>. I already knew that, and once I laid my eyes on the men of the other clan, I understood it was a lost battle. Y/n, you know about the traditions between the Uchiha where marriage is only allowed between members of the clan. </span>
  <span>And judging by what we know about the </span>
  <span>Uchiha, </span>
  <span>they</span>
  <span> would not make an exception so easily.</span>
</p><p>That tradition seemed to have something to do with their hereditary ocular ability known as the Sharingan. On one hand, it was an advantage if the clan kept such trait alive and strong; on the other hand, it meant the death of its members’ personal freedom. Because of things like this, sometimes you felt glad for not being part of any important clan.</p><p>
  <span>- </span>
  <span>B</span>
  <span>oth Hashirama and I </span>
  <span>sensed</span>
  <span> that the</span>
  <span>ir</span>
  <span> decision was not unanimous. </span>
  <span>You see, </span>
  <span>there were</span>
  <span> people </span>
  <span>of</span>
  <span> both clans </span>
  <span>who </span>
  <span>were just tired of </span>
  <span>so many</span>
  <span> conflicts, </span>
  <span>and some of the Uchiha passed to our side after the war’s end. </span>
  <span>These people</span>
  <span> would </span>
  <span>no</span>
  <span>t have objections to this </span>
  <span>type of alliance</span>
  <span>. But at that time, Madara was still among us, and that made things </span>
  <span>even</span>
  <span> hard</span>
  <span>er</span>
  <span>, despite his friendship with my brother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tobirama didn’t contain the </span>
  <span>disgust</span>
  <span> in his tone when he spoke that name. You never saw Madara </span>
  <span>in person </span>
  <span>and had no familiarity with the </span>
  <span>kind</span>
  <span> of </span>
  <span>person</span>
  <span> he was, but you always heard that he could be very difficult when he wanted to. Sometimes you found your husband a difficult man, so you preferred not to imagine what it would </span>
  <span>be</span>
  <span> like to live alongside the Uchiha leader.</span>
</p><p><span>- </span><span>Madara never </span><span>entirely</span><span> accepted my brother as the village’s Hokage. His resentment towards Hashirama was equal to his admiration. </span><span>H</span><span>e did not hide his disinterest in the discussion. </span><span>Besides, t</span><span>o him, proposing that kind of alliance between their clans </span><span>sounded</span><span> like my brother was asking t</span><span>o</span><span>o much </span><span>from</span><span> him and his people. </span><span>Myiako, </span><span>who</span><span> was </span><span>one of </span><span>the</span><span>ir s</span><span>pokesman, </span><span>took advantage from this and</span> <span>raised</span> <span>even more </span><span>objections. </span><span>It was easy for him to influence the final </span><span>decision</span><span> of his clan, since he was known to Madara, who was Izuna’s elder brother. That put an end on Hashirama’s efforts to convince his friend, and nothing was done. Emi and I would never be together, and I would never find out exactly what was going to happen to her. </span><span>So </span><span>I ended up doing as she proposed first and tried to forget about our connection.</span></p><p>
  <span>You knew </span>
  <span>your husband well, so you identified sadness behind his serious manners and controlled voice. </span>
  <span>You felt sad too; that was </span>
  <span>a</span>
  <span> tragic story, after all. </span>
  <span>Still, you couldn’t help feeling jealous of the way he talked about that woman, </span>
  <span>and thinking of this during such occasion made you feel guilty.</span>
</p><p>However, the story wasn’t finished yet.</p><p><span>- </span><span>Some time later, </span><span>Hashirama came and gave me the news:</span> <span>apparently, </span><span>a</span><span>n engagement</span><span> among the Uchiha was </span><span>going to be </span><span>announced, </span><span>and we were the first ones to hear about it outside the clan’s circles</span><span>. </span><span>When I asked who was going to marry, </span><span>Hashirama</span><span> became serious, unsure of how to tell me. Finally, he </span><span>stated</span><span> that the couple </span><span>apparently</span> <span>was</span> <span>formed by Madara and Emi. </span><span>It was hard to believe. </span><span>I questioned my brother about</span><span> the emissary’s words</span><span>. According to him, the message </span><span>said that “</span><span>in the name of </span><span>Madara, </span><span>their leader, and the family of </span><span>Myiako, </span><span>the people of the Uchiha clan are eager to inform that</span> <span>a new connection is being formed </span><span>between</span><span> the</span><span>m</span><span>”.</span></p><p>So Madara was engaged once? You’ve never heard about that. But soon you were going to understand why.</p><p>
  <span>- </span>
  <span>Because of the ambiguity of those words, </span>
  <span>I immediately understood that, </span>
  <span>even if he allowed the use of his name in it,</span>
  <span> Madara was not the author of such </span>
  <span>message, </span>
  <span>and my brother made a mistake in his interpretation of the emissary’s words</span>
  <span>. </span>
  <span>This mistake, however, was understandable, because Emi was Myiako’s only family, and if the mentioned connection </span>
  <span>had a character other than the matrimonial one, </span>
  <span>it would be something that had to do with the Uchiha only, and </span>
  <span>there would be no need for an announcement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A </span>
  <span>brief moment of silence, and then Tobirama spoke again.</span>
</p><p><span>- I already knew Emi didn’t have the best feelings toward</span><span>s</span><span> Madara. She </span><span>once said</span> <span>s</span><span>he </span><span>found </span><span>the unpredictability of his temper </span><span>scary</span><span>, just like her brother’</span><span>s, s</span><span>o </span><span>that </span><span>even if she didn’t love me anymore, she would never agree with such arrangement if it all depended on her will. </span><span>To me, i</span><span>t was clear that Myiako was behind this.</span> <span>Whatever the kind of connection he was intending to achieve, he saw it as</span><span> not only a way to </span><span>get closer to </span><span>his</span><span> clan’s leader, but a</span><span>s a</span><span> coward</span><span> attempt to insult me and the woman I once loved. I wouldn’t expect less from someone like </span><span>him</span><span>.</span></p><p>
  <span>A feeling of disgust for this Myiako was growing inside you. How could someone be capable of such things? Using his own sister to gain power and to provoke a member of a different clan during a time of peace? Of course things were not exactly peaceful since Madara was still there, but Myiako’s actions were more than inconsequent</span>
  <span>ial</span>
  <span>: he should be aware that th</span>
  <span>is</span>
  <span> could harm the </span>
  <span>fragile </span>
  <span>balance of </span>
  <span>the village’s political scenario</span>
  <span> in a way that would be impossible to fix.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>However, there was another thing you wanted to know: </span>
  <span>despite everything you heard about him, Madara was still a mystery to you. </span>
  <span>What kind of man he was? </span>
  <span>What was</span>
  <span> his position on this?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>- </span>
  <span>But what about Madara?</span>
  <span> – you asked – </span>
  <span>Did he confirm the engagement? </span>
  <span>D</span>
  <span>id he deny it? </span>
  <span>What did he do?</span>
</p><p>Tobirama sighed.</p><p>
  <span>- </span>
  <span>Neither this, nor that. Because he knew her brother, Madara naturally knew Emi, but he never showed any interest in her. </span>
  <span>I don’t know if he was aware of my </span>
  <span>previous</span>
  <span> connection with her, but probably not, because he never made the slightest mention to it </span>
  <span>before the reunion</span>
  <span>. And this was another </span>
  <span>inconsistent</span>
  <span> point of the whole thing: he was not the type of man who engages in something he is not passionate about. </span>
  <span>He only had eyes to his own interests </span>
  <span>and ideology</span>
  <span>, </span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>o </span>
  <span>that</span>
  <span> even if the traditions forced him to only choose a woman among the Uchiha </span>
  <span>to be his wife</span>
  <span>, he would not choose someone for who he had </span>
  <span>no</span>
  <span> attraction</span>
  <span>. </span>
  <span>And to me, this was the thing the spoke most against the possibility of an engagement between them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That made more sense. You knew that there were sensitive and passionate people among the Uchiha, and from what you heard about </span>
  <span>the</span>
  <span> man who was once their leader, </span>
  <span>this theory </span>
  <span>had</span>
  <span> more credibility</span>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>- And t</span>
  <span>ime</span>
  <span> passed, but nothing was </span>
  <span>heard or</span>
  <span> said about the </span>
  <span>engagement or the </span>
  <span>ceremony – </span>
  <span>Tobirama </span>
  <span>was saying</span>
  <span> –</span>
  <span> Madara himself never talked about this. </span>
  <span>As I said, he never showed any interest in the question, and his silence </span>
  <span>was the confirmation that </span>
  <span>the message we received was half true, </span>
  <span>or at least</span>
  <span> it was </span>
  <span>arranged in a way that</span>
  <span> intended to deceive </span>
  <span>and offend </span>
  <span>us, </span>
  <span>me because of my feelings for Emi and my brother because of his failed attempt to create a new alliance with them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>H</span>
  <span>owever, the case was not over yet. And the worst parts of it were about to come.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>- </span>
  <span>By that time, things became </span>
  <span>more and more </span>
  <span>unsettling between </span>
  <span>my brother</span>
  <span> and Madara. Hashirama </span>
  <span>rarely</span>
  <span> talked to me about it, but I knew my brother, so I saw that he was worried. It was during that period that we heard the terrible news: Emi was dead.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. IV</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You weren't expecting that story to gain those dark shades, but here you are, learning about things you'd prefer not to hear. When Tobirama finally finishes the story and explains what it has to do with the events of that day, you have to think of what you just heard and decide how you are going to reply.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Guys, let me say that this is the hardest chapter I wrote for this work so far. I thought I would never finish it and I even considered deleting this work from the series, but now I finished the chapter and I'm free to pass to this story's conclusion. It was hard because this is my first time writing something so dense, and I was also worried that it wouldn't express all the weight I intended to put on it. Anyways I hope you like it ;)</p><p>THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS:</p><p>- implied abusive relationship<br/>- assumption of incest<br/>- mentions to labor/birth and death</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>When you raised your eyes to Tobirama, the light that entering through the window created a strange gleam in the red of his eyes. Was it the sign of tears? Yes, definitely, but not a single one rolled through his face. Despite how painful it was for you to see such restraint, you didn’t find it unusual: it served as a proof that those memories were not affecting him the way you thought, and that he was still the man you knew. If he gave in to an uncontrolled weeping, you would be worried.</p><p>Whatever the case, his pain was deep, for not even time was enough to completely cease it, and that was too much for you: you wanted to touch him, to wrap him in your arms and keep him close, as you did countless times before, but you knew he didn’t want it for now, because the story wasn’t finished yet. You felt like all of this created some sort of separation between him and you, like you were not a part of it, so there was nothing you could do but to wait and pray that it would end soon.</p><p>Suddenly, you decided to ask:</p><p>- Who gave you such news? The same person who brought the first message?</p><p>- No. The first one was a young man, a servant. The one about Emi, on the other hand – he sighed – Was told to us by Madara himself.</p><p>You almost screamed in response.</p><p>- Madara?!</p><p>- Yes – his tone didn’t change with your surprise – It happened during a reunion between him and my brother. Confirming what I suspected about the first message we received, Myiako was now working close to him, so he was aware of some of the circumstances. He explained that Emi hasn’t been well for a while, and despite the talent of the doctors, her body didn’t respond to the medicine.</p><p>- Did your brother question him about why no one was informed of this situation out of their clan’s circles? – you asked – I believe Hashirama-sama would do his best to help her.</p><p>Tobirama made a negative sign.</p><p>- I know he would do it if he was asked, but this time was different.</p><p>- How so?</p><p>- According to Madara, Emi couldn’t receive visitors, except the doctors who were already taking care of her. And since Myiako was known to him for years, Madara didn’t find problems to leave Emi’s only living sibling manage the situation. You see, y/n, Madara, my brother and I know well the desperation of seeing a sibling’s life in danger and wanting to do everything we can to save them. As far as I can see, Madara supposed that the same rule applied to Myiako, so he gave him freedom of action.</p><p>You crossed your arms and thought of these words for a moment. You were your parents’ only daughter; since you never had a brother or a sister, you couldn’t entirely relate to what Tobirama was telling you now. So you assumed that you would never understand some points of the story anyway and decided to question what seemed to be the practical side of it.</p><p>- I see. Still, this is all too strange. He was the clan’s leader. How could he just not do anything? Did you really believe him when he told you this story?</p><p>- I did. I believe he came in person because it was a matter of credibility. Besides, as I told you once, when someone is lying, there is an uneasiness around them formed by their chakra, and because I didn’t sense it in him that time, I didn’t have reasons to suspect him.</p><p>You weren’t convinced, however, and your husband noticed it. You saw some sort of smug on his face.</p><p>- I know that the way I speak can lead you to think of this man as nothing but a treacherous monster, but even Madara Uchiha was capable of speaking the truth, and that time I immediately knew he was doing it. Even now I don’t see what he would gain with a lie in such situation. And it was not the case that he did absolutely nothing for Emi. According to him, he himself chose the doctors that took care of her and kept regular conversations with them. Or at least he did it in the first moments, before letting the situation in Myiako’s hands. Y/n, the truth is that he started to isolate himself by that time. His meetings with my brother became rare, and even the people of his clan who were close to him in the past weren’t properly informed about his activities. Not long after, he left the village.</p><p>Tobirama stopped speaking for a moment. It was like an eternity to you; you used that time to think about everything you just heard. Now you could see that the roots of the story between the Senju and the Uchiha were deeper than you thought, and had many shades that exceeded the battle field. Something like this would not end after a peace treaty or disappear before the mere test of time. And then you saw there were things you couldn’t change, despite all your efforts and your love for your husband. And that was the worst part of this, at least for you, as his wife.</p><p>But there was more you needed to hear.</p><p>- Madara’s departure didn’t reduce our problems, as you can imagine. Some time after his desertion, Myiako appeared with a child, a boy called Satoru, who he claimed to be his. However, he didn’t have a known wife nor by that time nor before, and nothing was said about the woman who gave birth to the boy. I tried to find out the child’s age and when I did, I made a simple calculation. I noticed the child’s presumable date of birth was close to the date of Emi’s death.</p><p>Yes. Only a fool would be incapable of connecting the evidences.</p><p>- So you found out that Satoru was...</p><p>Tobirama nodded. Before he spoke again, a sudden idea occurred to you, and you thought that was the reason why your husband didn’t want the boy to get close to Amaya.</p><p>- And you think – you swallowed – You are his father?</p><p>His answer to this was categorical.</p><p>- He is not my son. Emi and I haven’t spent much time together. To speak the truth, I never touched her, and by the time when she probably got pregnant, we weren’t meeting anymore. But I have no doubts that she was Satoru’s mother. The fact that she was kept isolated was a proof that her pregnancy was a secret even to her clan. Even to Madara.</p><p>Then you remembered the rumor about the engagement.</p><p>- Do you think Madara had something to do with the child? Was he his father? Did he ever find out about her pregnancy?</p><p>- I don’t think he was the father. And if he found out about the child, I am sure he would do something. Maybe he did, and for a moment he might have considered raising the boy as his own or taking him as an apprentice when he grew up, since he had Uchiha blood. But because no one knew if the father was a member of their clan, it did not happen, and I’m afraid Emi would be separated from her son if she lived long enough. Madara left before having any connections with the child and Emi didn’t see her son grow up. And this is everything we know.</p><p>This answer brought some sort of relief to you. Things would be even more complicated if Satoru and Amaya were brothers. Besides, knowing that your husband has been with someone else before you wasn’t the most comfortable thing in this world, so you tried to change the tone of the conversation a little bit.</p><p>- And what about Myiako? Judging by what you told me, it was like he was aware of Madara’s intention to leave the village, and was waiting for this to happen before revealing the child’s existence – you lowered your tone – To me, it seems that he took advantage from Madara’s isolation and disinterest in anything that had nothing to do with himself, and then managed everything as he pleased.</p><p>Tobirama became even more serious at this point. You started to be afraid of hearing what he was about to say.</p><p>- Because of what I’ve heard about the boy – his behavior, his manners and abilities – I must recognize that Myiako raised him well, at least regarding the shinobi ways. But it became impossible for me to just ignore everything that happened once I laid my eyes on the kid himself…</p><p>he raised his eyes to you. When you met his gaze, you sensed something that made you cold inside out.</p><p>- Y/n, this boy, Satoru, had nothing in him that resembles Emi. Instead, he is the living image of the man who claimed to be his father.</p><p>You covered your mouth with both hands. Yes, you’d surely prefer not to hear this part. If things really happened the way your husband’s story suggested, all of this was terrible, repugnant. The things that woman must have suffered, with no one there to help her. And everything because of her feelings for a man of a different clan… No, everything because of her brother’s greed and thirst for power. You felt sincerely sorry for her, and a bitter rage grew inside you against the responsible for her suffering. You also had many questions now: did Madara never know about this side of Myiako? Did he care? How did Myiako manage to hide the truth from so many people? Was Emi really alone? Didn’t she have at least one friend on who she could count?</p><p>Such questions would never get an answer now, so you just asked what happened then.</p><p>- Because of the treaty between our clans, I couldn’t eliminate this man or make him pay for what he did – Tobirama replied – It was not even possible to search for proof that he did what I believe he did. I also knew that talking to Hashirama about the case was useless. After his failed attempt to create the matrimonial alliances, an investigation on a case like this would sound as impertinence. Some years passed, and we heard that Myiako was killed during a mission out of the village. According to my student, Kagami, Satoru was sent to the house of a family that had connections with Myiako after that, and he has been living there since then. He knows nothing about his mother, except that she died giving birth to him, and that his father was killed by enemies of Konoha. None of this story was told to him, and probably will never be.</p><p>With this, you two remained in silence. You were on your knees, with your hands on your lap, clenching the fabric of your clothes; you felt them trembling with all the information you had to process now. When Tobirama said he kept that scroll as a memory, you were expecting many things, but not something like that.</p><p>After a moment looking down at the paper in front of him, he spoke again.</p><p>- What this man did is the result of what is known as the Curse of Hatred that pursues his clan. This curse changed their leader, and if he was not immune to it, we should not be surprised to see others succumb to it. It is something unpredictable. No matter how much time passes or how things change, it will still be there, waiting for an opportunity to wake and dominate the ones who live under its threat. It is a fact that cannot be ignored. You were right when you said that knowing that Satoru is an Uchiha does make a difference to me, y/n, but now you understand that it isn’t for nothing.</p><p>He touched the scroll with his fingers. You looked to the manuscript, thinking.</p><p>- This boy will have to face the same fate that entangled so many people in his clan, and then make a decision – Tobirama said – If he will give in or fight against it, it is a choice that he will have to do by himself. But I do not want our daughter to get involved in it. Not after everything I’ve seen. When I came to know that they were getting close to each other, her safety was the first thing that motivated my actions. I cannot imagine a father acting differently when he knows as much as I do. Besides, I am not just a father. I am the Hokage. It is my duty to prevent anything that can harm the people under my protection. I would not be worthy of being called a leader if I was unable to take care of my own family.</p><p>Your husband turned his attention to the scroll.</p><p>- It is true that the technique described here brings people back from the dead in a literal way. Such thing can be avoided if the jutsu is forbidden and forgotten. However, there are other ways to resurrect the dead, such as through memory, just like in the present case. As the Hokage, I understand that there are things I must not forget, no matter how unpleasant, disturbing they come to be, like the Curse of Hatred and everything that came after it. They are the reason why I keep this notes with me. It is a burden I have to carry, and a necessary factor to consider on my hardest decisions.</p><p>Your hands were still shaking, despite your efforts to control them. Tobirama approached his hands and took yours between them, dedicating a special care to the injured one. In normal circumstances he would hold them tight, and you’d respond accordingly, but that time you were unable to do it. You remained in silence, but there were many things you wanted to say; however, your thoughts were agitated like a river during the storm. You were going to calm down and use all your wisdom to choose the right words. Now you understood that the question wasn’t limited to household matters – there were so much more involved that you couldn’t expect to absorb everything at once, nor Tobirama was expecting this from you. He was quiet too, waiting for your response.</p><p>And finally, it came.</p><p>You brought his hands to your lips and left a long, gentle kiss on his knuckles. Your hands were so small, so soft compared to his strong, harsh warrior’s hands that you took a moment observing the contrast between them before interrupting the contact. With a movement of your healthy hand, you put the open scroll aside. It was your first action in your plan to solve the question: to eliminate the physical and the symbolic barrier that was separating you two. Once you did it, you were able to do what you needed. You approached your husband and, touching his face with both your hands, you pressed your forehead against his; he wasn’t wearing his <em>happuri</em>, so that you didn’t have to worry about any discomfort. That was a rare gesture between you: you sort of reserved it for serious occasions like that. It was a way to say to each other that things were about to be solved.</p><p>You moved a little and before he could ask what you were going to do, you placed a kiss on his forehead.</p><p>- My grumpy old man – you smiled at the gleam of surprise in his red eyes – You never talk too much, even when I say you should. But if you did it this time, I can only imagine the effort you had to make. I’m sorry that I refused to listen before and that I cannot understand everything you have to carry. But now, I believe it is your time to listen to me.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. V</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You've been listening to his incredible story until. You also paid attention to the connections between it and the case of the boy. You recognize that, as the village's Hokage, your husband must see things in a perspective you cannot always agree. But as a civilian at heart, there are things you understand better than him, and it is your duty to try and explain them to him as clear as possible.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter took so long to be finished because it's that one chapter of the fic about which we say "that's it, that's the moment, you better not fail now", you know? I was stuck in my insecurities about not being capable of do justice to the events of it and giving you a disappointing work... Anyways, I finally wrote it and here it is for you to enjoy it ;)</p><p> </p><p>THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS:</p><p>- A bit of angst or something close to that<br/>- Non explicit sex / reconciliation sex<br/>- A few seconds of fluff in the end</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>- Please – you started in a low tone – I apologize for not letting you speak before. Because of this I don’t think I have the right to ask you anything, but now I need you to listen to me, Tobirama.</p><p>You took his hands and brought them to your lap. Your fingers entwined with his, squeezing them softly against yours. Somehow, the warmness of your husband’s hands always managed to calm your anxieties, and the firmness, the roughness of their skin were a necessary encouragement for you to seek for the right words, to speak them out loud, to do whatever you had to do. Years ago, there was a time when he was treating an injury of yours and described them as a warrior’s hands. They were not so soft; they were calloused, big and strong, but they were precisely what you needed.</p><p>And you were glad to have them with you now.</p><p>- I am aware that some responsibilities that fall on your shoulders are meant to be carried by you, and only you, for you are the leader of this village. And I am also aware that it was this sense of duty that guided your actions today. And no matter how much I try, I will never fully understand them, so that some of your decisions will always seem strange to me – you looked into his eyes – But you cannot expect something different, because despite my training, I am a civilian at heart, and I was raised to think and live as one. Now, I am a mother and a wife too, and just like I’ll never understand everything that’s involved in being a Hokage, the way a woman like me works to protect her family is something you will never comprehend in its entirety, even if I tried to explain it to you.</p><p>You swallowed and took a deep breath.</p><p>- It was thanks to this that I immediately saw there was something wrong when you stated that a shadow clone was going with Amaya. And when her brother started to speak about that boy, and your expression changed when I laid my eyes on you, all I could think of was to protect my children, and protect you from yourself. I found hard to believe you were acting the way I thought you were. Seeing that happening when I already knew part of the history behind the village’s foundation was scary.</p><p>Against your will, you sensed you were holding his hands more tightly. Remembering the events of that morning was affecting you. Still, you continued to speak.</p><p>- I was afraid to see what was going to happen… I was afraid that all the years we’ve worked hard to protect our children were about to get lost because of some old rivalry that should have ended long ago – your eyes started to burn – I remembered when you promised me you would never let the past interfere in our life together. So when I saw that happening before me, I thought you were going to undo everything we’ve built, this precious life we have with our kids… I could not be quiet about that...</p><p>Tobirama didn’t have a verbal reply to that, but he stared at you and nodded to show you that yes, he understood it. You almost smiled.</p><p>- Tobirama. You are a father and our Hokage, while I am a mother and your wife. We have our own ways dictated by our roles. But I think that, despite these differences, we are not so far from each other as we might believe. As much as you work to protect us, I work too. As a woman of Konoha, I understand that this is the reason why the village was created. To give our children a future, to give them a choice. I myself benefited from it. But let me tell you something as a mother: if we really want our children to reach this future, we need to teach them how to make good decisions instead of trying to make their decisions for them. They need to know we trust them to do what is right. But this will not happen if we don’t <em>talk</em> them. We can’t just expect they understand us, because they won’t.</p><p>You took a moment to stare at your husband in silence. He sensed the difference in your tone when you spoke again.</p><p>- Amaya was confused with what happened, and so was Shuji, even him, who is the closest to you. And Hashi was afraid. And I don’t want to see them feeling like this ever again. Now, you were able to recognize Satoru’s responsibility of making his own decisions. Please, do the same for your own children. Do the same for <em>me</em>…</p><p>You released Tobirama’s hands and approached him, your left hand touching his face while your right one rested upon his shoulder.</p><p>- You said there are more than just one way to resurrect the dead. Some of them might be right, but others are not, and I’m not just talking about Edo Tensei – your thumb caressed his cheek as you spoke – Remembering the dead as a precaution is wise, but becoming unduly attached to their memory can blurry your perception and lead you to the wrong path. In this case, it’s better to let them go…</p><p>You then held his hands and made them surround you. Tobirama seemed to understand the meaning of such gesture, for he tightened his grip around you. You brought your lips closer to his, and your fingers touched his jawline. Your face burned with what you were going to say.</p><p>- In this case you need to let them go… To let <em>her</em> go, Tobirama.</p><p>When he heard you say <em>her</em>, his eyes and the three streams on his skin were not the only things that were red on his face. Your only reaction to this was smile. Yes, you knew he would never speak directly about it, so you focused your speech on softer matters, things that he would have no problem in discuss and agree with you. But you were aware that it was there, pulsating inside his mind. The frustration of not turning that woman's love into something concrete was painful, almost unbearable for a man who was used to accomplish every goal he sets for himself. And this old disappointment was consuming him, whether he was willing to admit it or not.</p><p>Tobirama was lucky to have a woman like you by his side, however. You sensed all of that in him. And now you were ready to help.</p><p>- I know this is not just about the kids… It is about her too. I know it still hurts, and it’s okay if you don’t want to say a word about it, but don’t try to hide it from me. Let her go and be with <em>me</em>, Tobirama – you whispered – She’s not here. I am. I am your wife. Your woman. I’m the one who’s been working with you, watching you, taking care of you. I’m also the one who’s been cleaning for you, preparing your food and warming your bed when you come home, late at night. For all this time I’ve been here for you, and I will always be… So I’m begging you... Be here for me too…</p><p>As time passed and you came to know how your husband’s mind works, you were quick to understand that any argumentation that appealed to his emotions was useless. However, with the perceptive abilities you gained as you grew older, you managed to find a way to the depths of his heart and combined what you discovered there with what he believed to be the most important matters – the ones regarding here and now.</p><p>So he knew you were right. Emi was a story from the past, and was forever out of his reach; but you were the present, right there in his arms. You were the woman with who he shared his life, his dreams, his heart and his body. In pain, you brought all his heirs to this world; you loved them, raised them, protected them with everything you got. You took care of them more than you would do for yourself, and even for him. He would never manage to do all of that by himself. And now you were just claiming what is your right: to be seen, recognized by what you were.</p><p>So, despite the burden he had to carry in his memories and heart, Tobirama Senju understood your words and did you justice.</p><p>His left arm gripped around your waist, narrowing the already small distance between you. His right one rested upon yours on his face as he turned a little and kissed your palm, then your wrist. His lips lingered there for a moment, as if he needed some time to set his thoughts and thus his response. You knew it was something necessary to him, who was never that good with words when it comes to the matters of the heart; even when he was alone with you, he would quit his freedom to speak and opt for action. Doing something to show you he was sorry and he cared was always easier to try and choose words.</p><p>However, sometimes he managed to say some words while taking action, like that time.</p><p>- I am here with you, y/n – he whispered, his warm breath on your skin – And I am here for our children too. You are all irreplaceable. I will never leave you.</p><p>You smiled and felt your vision getting blurred by tears.</p><p>- Grumpy old man...</p><p>His mouth moved away from your wrist and he placed your hand around his neck in response, bringing you close enough for him to kiss your mouth. You were willing to this; once his lips touched yours, you opened your mouth to give space to his tongue. Your tiny hands grabbed his shirt as you found your place on his lap. He tightened his arms around you and stood up with you; despite the aching sensation on your legs because of the time you've spent kneeling on the wooden floor, you managed to wrap them around his waist as you both went out of the office. Your kiss was only interrupted at the moment Tobirama closed the room's door, leaving the scroll and its memories behind.</p><p>It was like one of those many times during the first years of your marriage, before you had the children, when he used to come back from missions outside the village directly to your arms. You used to be on your couch at the end of the day or in the kitchen preparing your dinner when you heard his steps outside the front door; he would even make them louder just for you to know it was him. But there were those times when preferred to surprise you: he would sense your location and when you least expected it, he was there, grabbing you by your waist and holding you against him, forcing you to stop whatever you were doing at the moment. After days, weeks alone, of course you were missing him, but it was funny that you had to force him to take care of himself first, otherwise he would take you right there, just the way he was: exhausted, hungry and in need of a good bath.</p><p>Yes. This man, who was always tidy and composed in all aspects of his life, could change this much once he found himself alone with you. It didn't matter how tough or dangerous the things he had to face out there showed to be, once he stepped inside his house, his safety place, all he could think of was you. All he wanted was you.</p><p>And it wasn't different that time. After almost having your trust in each other irreversibly damaged by those ghosts from his past, all he needed was to keep the present alive.</p><p>Tobirama didn't mind using the force to open your bedroom's door, nor did he mind closing it: you were alone, and even if some of your children were on their way back, he would sense them. You were not going to be caught. You laughed at this thought. The harsh manner with which he pushed the door wide open with one hand while the other was holding you on his lap made you tighten your legs around him; you always loved to see him showing off his strength, for it turned you on in a way you couldn't explain.</p><p>It was still early in the morning. You didn't have time to make your bed, so that the blanket was still there unfolded, a soft mess on the mattress. He didn't mind moving it away before laying you down, and you didn't see any reason to protest; your attentions were somewhere else. Your body barely touched the sheets' fabric when you saw yourself being undressed by his eager hands, while his mouth would seek for every inch of your exposed skin. You even tried to help him get rid of his own clothes, but he did it by himself.</p><p>And then he took you, he loved you as he haven't done in days. He was over you, his tongue deeply entwined with yours in a breathless kiss, his body pressing yours to the point it was getting hard for you to move, his fingers grabbing your thighs with such strength that you were sure they would leave marks. Not that you cared, though: those ones would remain invisible under your clothes, and he was the only one with permission to see them.</p><p>From inside out, your body was going to be tired and aching for hours after that, but you couldn't be less concerned about that. You wanted it, and he was not going to rest until he gave it to you.</p><p>Because you both wanted to spare your kids' ears, you became careful about the amount of disturbance you'd dare provoke all over the years, but that time you didn't mind making some noise. Only when your groans, moans and sighs started echoing around the room you realized how much you missed them. And if you thought your bed was already messy before you reached it, now you knew it wasn't even going to be acknowledged as a bed when you'd leave it.</p><p>You closed your eyes tightly and your nails scratched his back during the final moments. Your contentment could not be measured, but you didn't want it to end. Tobirama didn't release you when he separated from you, this time: he just laid his head between your breasts and stood there, breathing heavily with his arms around you. You held him in a hug and bent down to kiss the top of his head, your left hand stroking his hair, the other resting upon his back.</p><p>That morning was turbulent, indeed, but now all of that felt like a bad dream compared to the peace you were experiencing right now.</p><p>He was still your grumpy old man and still loved you, and that was all.</p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. VI</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You both knew you were going to need to talk to your kids about what happened early that day. It was not going to be easy, but the time for you to fix things were now.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter took so long to come out bc now I'm managing a fanfiction blog YAY! I have some requests to write and post and this took all my free time these days, and besides I'm posting my fanfiction there too, so I kinda put ao3 aside XD</p>
<p>Anyway, this chapter has lots of fluff and a bit of drama, but hope is always at reach, so I promise everything will be fine for our bbs ;)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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<p>When you opened your eyes, you saw Tobirama was no longer there. He put a blanket over you and left. You smiled to yourself while moving it away from your shoulders: so he thought this would be enough to replace him? Still under the fabric, you moved on the bed; just the way you expected, you felt your body aching a little, and your legs were a bit numb. But it wasn't what you'd call a true discomfort; you were in fact relaxed, and if it wasn't for all the obligations of the day, you would stay there for the next hours, waiting for your husband to come back to you.</p>
<p>You turned on your side and were about to leave the bed when you spotted him standing at the door's entry, his forearm leaning on it; he was naked from the waist up, arms crossed, eyes fixed on you. You startled a bit at first, but then smiled. You thought he went to his office after you fell asleep.</p>
<p>Your elbow leaned on the mattress as you looked at him.</p>
<p>– Your clone is still there, uh?</p>
<p>A smile grew on the corner of his mouth.</p>
<p>– You just slept for a few minutes, y/n. But if I knew you were so willing to get rid of me, I would have already gone to the office myself instead of making the clone work for me.</p>
<p>Despite those words, his tone wasn't as harsh as they suggested. It might have sound like this to other people who didn’t know him so well, but you've learned the differences in each of his inflections and laughed at his fake irritation.</p>
<p>– Practical as always – you sat on the bed and offered a hand to him – Come here.</p>
<p>He approached and sat by your side. You leaned on the mattress and passed your arms around his neck as he took you on his lap. You made him bent down and left a kiss on his forehead.</p>
<p>– We will have to talk to them about what happened today. And beware that it is not going to be easy.</p>
<p>He nodded. Of course he knew you were going to do this, but you sensed his growing anxiety: when personal – emotional – matters were involved, talking was never his first option. Years before, when Amaya and Shuji were having trouble to get along, it was his idea to educate them separately, according to their talents and personality. The plan worked at the time, but now things were different: the current situation didn’t involve actions, not more than it demanded words. Tobirama was going to need your help in this, and you were willing to do your part.</p>
<p>However, some things had to be done first.</p>
<p>You put your hands on his shoulders and squeezed them a little. The tension you felt on them made you smile: how was he capable of making love to you in such state? Pure stamina couldn’t explain this, you were sure.</p>
<p>He groaned at your expression.</p>
<p>– What is it?</p>
<p>– Nothing – you laugh while leaving his lap and putting yourself behind him, kneeling on the mattress; you left a delicate kiss on his shoulder and your tiny hands started to massage them both – It’s just that we need to calm you down before getting the children involved.</p>
<p>Another groan, but he didn’t protest or made you stop. That was one of the rare times when Tobirama didn’t insist on doing things his way and let you take care of everything: with such rigidity on his muscles, even he knew he wasn’t going too far without help. After all those years, it was still funny to you to see him struggling to admit that he needed a break.</p>
<p>As you extended the massage to his neck, you took a closer look and noticed the dark marks on his pale skin. Marks from the war. He had many more all over his body, and you have seen them countless times before, but those on his neck were the most difficult for you to stare at: they forced you to imagine how many times he must have been close to death. Such thoughts were always in the back of your head, but you were always quick to send them away, and that time wasn’t different: you concentrated in relax him and shut down your inner monologue.</p>
<p>It has been just a few minutes and he was already melting in your hands. He was really stressed. Sometimes Tobirama seemed to forget that the world was not at war, and you couldn’t blame him, of course: he grew up at one, and it wasn’t but a few years ago when he finally met some peace. It is just that old habits die hard, so he needed you there to remind him to live his life and not get stuck in his armor. Specially during the last days, when the kids have been spending less time at home, you should take your time.</p>
<p>You ran your hands through his shaggy hair and kissed the side of his neck. At some point, you told him to lay down. He didn’t offer resistance and laid on his side of the bed, his arms stretched over the pillow. You started caressing his back, where he had many scars as well, but those were not as hard to stare as the others.</p>
<p>Soon, his breath became heavy and his groans stopped. You smiled with yourself when you noticed he fell asleep. You covered him with the blanket, went to take a bath and then walked to the kitchen to prepare yourself some hot tea. When you passed through the kitchen’s door, however, you saw that your kunai was still buried in the wall beside it. With a muffled laugh, you removed it from there, and spotting the second blade on the floor, you took it and hid them in a drawer. When you came back to the door to look closer at the hole made by the kunai, you startled at its size.</p>
<p>A mom’s hand was always stronger.</p>
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<p>***</p>
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<p>Because most of the tasks of that day were accomplished by his clone, your husband didn’t have much to do by himself and came home sooner. He spent some time helping Shuji with his studies, while you took care of Hashi. Just like Tobirama stated, Amaya returned with his clone, who disappeared as soon as he passed the door. You were the first to see your daughter, and you soon noticed she was no longer anxious: instead, there was a melancholy that you’ve been seeing in her manners when you two where alone.</p>
<p>There was a possibility of things get better after your particular conversation, yes, but as you stated, it was not going to be easy.</p>
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<p>During dinner, Amaya said she was going to her room to finish some work given by her grandfather. You said you were going to the market the next day and asked her to come with you; she said yes and stood up from the table. Right after she left her bowl on the sink, her father asked how the work with her grandfather was going.</p>
<p>The girl stared at Tobirama for a moment, and then nodded.</p>
<p>- Good.</p>
<p>If he was expecting more you couldn’t tell, but he tried to give the conversation some continuity.</p>
<p>- Are you making progress?</p>
<p>She nodded, but didn’t say a word.</p>
<p>- What does your grandfather say about it?</p>
<p>Maybe that was not the best time for him to question his girl about her day: something in her changed a bit, as if the previous melancholy was about to pour out of her. You also sensed it in her tone when she replied to her father. It was far from disrespect, but it was strong enough to be noticed even by the boys.</p>
<p>- Is that really important, father?</p>
<p>Silence. You widened your eyes; Hashi became nervous and Shuji seemed worried, as if he was already expecting something like this. The tension of that morning would not disappear so easily.</p>
<p>For a moment, Tobirama didn’t seem to know what to say, but then decided to state that yes, it was important.</p>
<p>- Why would not be important, Amaya? – he asked.</p>
<p>Her reply came fast.</p>
<p>- If it is important for you to know what I do, then why did you never asked me about it before? Or are you asking me now to make sure I am really spending my days with my grandfather, though you’ve sent your Shadow Clone to take me and bring me back? He saw everything. I thought you would at least trust your own clone, father.</p>
<p>Before anyone could have the chance to speak, Amaya left. No one stopped her. You saw some redness coming up to your husband’s face, but he remained quiet. You’ve already warned him about that.</p>
<p>The boys kept staring at its door until you told them to finish their meals. After exchanging a silent look with their father, you turned your attention to your own bowl as well.</p>
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<p>It was now late at night and the children were sleeping. The boys were a bit tired of their own routine and went to their beds without much protest, so you and Tobirama had the rest of the night only for you.</p>
<p>The room was drowned in dark, except for the beam formed by the moonlight entering through the window. You just made love to each other. Now he had his arms around you, and you were lying your head on his chest. You started the conversation.</p>
<p>- I will take Amaya with me to the market tomorrow. I want to talk to her. When I called her, she seemed to understand why.</p>
<p>- She did – he replied – Amaya is a clever girl. She doesn’t talk as much as she observes. She’s better than her brothers at this. Hashirama still doesn’t know how to do it, neither does Shuji, despite being as observing as her.</p>
<p>- That’s true. And since she talked that much today, she has been observing even more.</p>
<p>You didn’t speak for some time. Then you sighed.</p>
<p>- Tobirama. Our daughter’s feeling isolated in her own house.</p>
<p>- Hm?</p>
<p>You turned to him a little.</p>
<p>- That’s why she likes to spend so much time with her grandfather, more than with us. Unlike her brothers, she chose not to be a shinobi. Maybe she feels like her grandfather is the only one who respects her decision – on your lips grew a sad smile – It’s funny that she’s acting just like me, coming to my father, seeking for validation. I used to feel like her too. However, I don’t have siblings, while she does, and that’s exactly why her case is worse.</p>
<p>- How so?</p>
<p>It was strange that being raised alongside so many siblings, Tobirama didn’t understand what you were saying, but you didn’t discuss that. You just answered the question.</p>
<p>- While you’ve spent your time with Shuji, I’ve spent mine with Amaya until Hashi was born. You know how hard it was for me when I got pregnant for the third time, so I became so attached to Hashi that Amaya ended up receiving less of my attention. I just supposed that because she’s the eldest kid she would be alright with this, but it wasn’t true. She counted on me; she needed me that time, and she still does now. I feel bad for spending so little time with her lately. I want to fix this. If I can’t do this now, it will become impossible in the future. She needs to know that we trust her and support her choices, and that our love for her didn’t diminish because of her brothers or because she doesn’t want to be a ninja. And the time for make her see this is now.</p>
<p>Tobirama remained quiet for a while, thinking of what you just said. When he spoke again, it was to agree with you.</p>
<p>- You were not the only one who wronged Amaya, y/n. I neglected her, even more than you did. She was our first child, and despite being the second of many siblings and thus having some sort of experience with children, it is not the same thing. I did recognize her qualities since the start, though I haven’t spent as much time with her as you, but when she made it clear that she had no interest in following a path as a shinobi, I ended up delegating her education entirely to you. When Shuji was born and showed to be more like me, I dedicated all the free time I had to him. It was easier to deal with him, because Shuji already had the mind of a shinobi. You understand, y/n, that being a shinobi is everything I know; I do not know how to be a civilian. I thought I had nothing to pass to Amaya and counted on you to do all the work. It was not fair with you two. And now that she is growing up, becoming a woman, finding out that there’s a world beyond her family’s house waiting for her, I just came and showed her my disapproval regarding something she cannot properly understand – he sighed – She was right in everything she said to me at the table. After what happened today, it was only natural for her to act like that.</p>
<p>You couldn’t contain yourself and left a low laugh escape.</p>
<p>- What? – he groaned.</p>
<p>You turned to him and leaned in, still smiling.</p>
<p>- Tobirama Senju admitting he is wrong? Things are more serious than I first imagined.</p>
<p>You saw a smug on his face in the half light. Before he spoke, you left a kiss on his lips and stroke his jawline.</p>
<p>- Leave the civilians to their pairs. I will clean this mess for you too.</p>
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